Aiden Markram, captaining in place of an ill Temba Bavuma, asked Afghanistan to chase in their first ODI against South Africa outside of World Cups. The teams will play three matches in Sharjah, which is hosting its 250th ODI.
South Africa have identified Afghanistan’s bowling as their strongest suit and will have to negotiate the return of Rashid Khan, who has not played an ODI since the World Cup last year, as well as three other spinners. AM Ghazanfar, Nangeyalia Kharote and Mohammad Nabi, who has played in all of Afghanistan’s 25 ODIs at this venue, are all in the XI. On the batting front, Riaz Hassan has been tasked with opening the batting with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, with Ibrahim Zadran out with an ankle injury.
Bavuma’s absence made the choice at the top of the order straightforward, with Tony de Zorzi and Reeza Hendricks opening the batting and Markram in at No.3. They have an inexperienced middle order in Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne and debutant Jason Smith followed by two seam-bowling allrounders. Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin was preferred over legspinner Nqaba Peter in the opening encounter, with South Africa including four seam bowling options in their team.
None of the South African players have played an ODI in Sharjah before but they won’t be too concerned with the unfamiliarity of the conditions. The Sharjah surface was relaid a year ago and although it is dry, it is not expected to be as slow as in the past.
Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Riaz Hassan, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Mohammed Nabi, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 AM Ghazanfar, 10 Fazalhaq Farooqi 11 Nangeyalia Kharote
South Africa: 1 Tony de Zorzi, 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (capt), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 6 Jason Smith, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Andile Phehlukwayo, 9 Bjorn Fortuin, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Lungi Ngidi
